Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Law & Order

One of the longest running shows in television history, Law & Order premiered in 1990 and has had a successful and continuous run since then. Law & Order has inspired two spin-offs while continuing with the original series and has allowed England to have their own British version. Needless to say, Law & Order could be considered television treasure. The show, in its most basic form, gives an inside look of the day to day work of the law enforcement and the judicial system of the district attorneys who work directly with the police. The most intriguing aspect of the show is watching both the process of the police investigations that eventually lead up to the court cases.

Many of the shows storylines are taken from real life crimes, investigations and court cases and sometimes the good side wins and sometimes the good sides lose. When it premiered in the 1990, Law & Order dealt with the heady issues that other shows steered away from such as AIDs, abortion, drugs, racial discrimination, homosexuality, rape and molestation.

The show always starts off with the investigation of some kind of crime (it's not always murder) in New York City. Through interrogation, solving and no small amount of trial and error Detective Mike Logan and whoever his partner is at the time (there are three different sergeants in the first three seasons) have to acquire instinct, skill and understanding to locate and catch the criminals and eventually hand them over the district attorney's office to prosecuted by the state.

When in the office, Ben Stone, a hard-ass by the book attorney and his partner, genius, but reserved Paul Robinette determine the criminal's fate and the victim's justice. The life of an attorney is wearing and exhausting and there are times, where even Ben's strong moral code of ethics is challenged. While there is right and wrong within the court system, there is hardly any black and white in many of these cases.

I never realized how closely the law enforcement and court systems worked together and most of the time, these cases have all four men (as well as their superiors) working together. Unlike most shows that have side stories involving the personal lives of the lead characters, Law & Order sticks solely to the cases and the off the clock lives of the leads are only pieced together by conversations throughout the seasons.

A brilliant blend of cop show and court drama, I understand why Law & Order has never left the air, because it deals with the realities of life. The good, the bad and the ugly are all brought to the table to be dealt out with as much justice and equality as can be found. While a great deal of the program does deal with the horrific reality of city life, it also brings to light the incredible and tireless work of law enforcement and the court system that is needed if we want to live as free people.

One final note...

Ok....I'll be honest, I originally started watching the show because of Mike Logan.

A handsome, but hot headed detective who is following in the footsteps of his father, Mike gives a great amount of lightheartedness to the show with his witty personality. A brave cop and, above all, a good man, Mike was an immediate favorite because his personality was so opposite the the dark drama of the program. And yes, his looks play an integral part to my favoritism, but every crime show needs their obligatory badass heartthrob (like Derek Morgan from Criminal Minds) and Mike Logan brings to the show a certain degree of coming of age in his profession and carrying on the legacy that his own father started.